The best hitter bats second because it maximizes his run production and gets him more at bats than if he batted 3rd or 4th. The lead off hitter should get on base a lot. Best home run hitter who isn't their best hitter bats fourth. That part hasn't changed much. A lot of today's lineup is matchups though, so it depends on who is pitching like you said.
or second baseman. The left fielder batted third. He had the highest batting average and a lot of doubles. The clean-up hitter was the big slow slugging first baseman.
I loved Leyland. He was a character and also knew what he was doing. Plus, the players loved him. The Tigers were behind the curve in analytics during that era, but Leyland was a good manager.
He primarily batted 4th last year (88 games), which is the best RBI position, although not the best run poroduction position.
He led the league in most RBI and runs mostly because he was their best hitter and played the most games.
The best spot for overall run production is the #2 spot. By run production, I mean being involved in run scoring, either by runs scored, RBI or getting a hit that puts a runner (who eventually scores) into scoring position .